Arbitrum vs Ethereum: which has cheaper gas?
Arbitrum, decisively. It was cheaper than Ethereum in 100% of the last 721 hours we observed — not most of the time, effectively all of the time. This is not a close call and there is no window in which the answer flips.
Priced as a swap at each chain's own mean fee, that is $0.0070 on Arbitrum against $0.109 on Ethereum. Steadiness differs too: Arbitrum's fee spans 1.0× between its quiet and busy hours, Ethereum's 18×. Arbitrum is the more predictable of the two, which can matter more than the average if you are pricing transactions in advance.
Both chains pay gas in ETH, so the gwei figures on this page are directly comparable as well as the dollar ones.
Arbitrum is a rollup, and the figure shown for it excludes the L1 data fee that settles its transactions on Ethereum — usually the larger share of what you actually pay. The real gap between these two is therefore narrower than it looks here.
Side by side, right now
| Transaction | Arbitrum | Ethereum |
|---|---|---|
| Current fee | 0.020 gwei | 0.095 gwei |
| Send native token | $0.00098 | $0.0046 |
| Send an ERC-20 token | $0.0030 | $0.014 |
| Swap on a DEX | $0.0070 | $0.033 |
Gas units are typical values, not measurements. Dollar figures use the current ETH price.
Over the last 30 days
- Hours compared
- 721
- Arbitrum cheaper in
- 100%
- Times the lead changed
- 0
- Mean swap cost gap
- $0.102
Questions
Is Arbitrum or Ethereum cheaper for gas?
Arbitrum was cheaper in 100% of the 721 hours compared over the last 30 days. The ranking did not flip once in that window.
Can I compare their gwei figures directly?
Both chains pay gas in ETH, so the gwei figures on this page are directly comparable as well as the dollar ones.
Are these the full fees?
Arbitrum is a rollup, and the figure shown for it excludes the L1 data fee that settles its transactions on Ethereum — usually the larger share of what you actually pay. The real gap between these two is therefore narrower than it looks here.